To get to the background of what this is all about check this Wikipedia page. It has links to the mandate of the IGF, its structure and functions, its history, its analysis, its current situation and some external links.

As of now, there are 89 reports showing up on Google’s news page pertaining to the IGF. In terms of blog references, again via Google, there are some 3,524 links. Including this one, from APC, titled
href=“http://old.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5041512”>Internet Governance Forum: APC puts up the fight for an open access, equal opportunity and educative internet.

Optimism and cautious expectations? A quote from that report:

“In its short life, the internet has become an agent of dramatic, even revolutionary change and maybe one of today’s greatest instruments of progress. It is a marvellous tool to promote and defend freedom and to give access to information and knowledge,” Kofi Annan said in his statement announcing the upcoming IGF meeting.

These words by the top UN bureaucrat might sound encouraging. But for progressive communications to shine on the world, the IGF will have to be more than a test-run. If WSIS was just that, it’s time for governments, civil society and the private sector to put goodwill and openness at work.